Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

Rutgers offensive line coach Kyle Flood has accepted an offer be the next Scarlet Knights' head coach, sources tell CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy.

Flood was initially named the interim head coach following Greg Schiano's departure to become the next head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccanneers. He has served on the Scarlet Knights' coaching staff as offensive line coach since 2005. The Scarlet Knights have only had one losing season since Flood joined the staff, and have gone 5-1 in bowl appearances.

According to The Star-Ledger, the Rutgers Board of Governors has a call scheduled for noon Tuesday. Flood is expected to be announced in a news conference later in the day.

As the interim head coach, Flood has been able to continue recruiting efforts up until the final dead period before National Signing Day. While some recruits - like UCLA commit Devin Fuller - have turned elsewhere after Schiano's departure, Flood's promotion will hopefully secure the rest of a strong Scarlet Knights recruiting class.

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Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

I think the decision was made solely on the basis of recruiting. Rutgers has a chance to have it's best class ever and apparently Flood is in the good graces with the NJ high school coaches. This is considered important because the Knights are finally starting to keep some of the best NJ talent, of which there is a lot, at home. Otherwise, if they were going to keep it "in house" Cignetti would certainly appear to have better credentials to move up to HC after being OC at Pitt and Rutgers. Ironically, poor play from the offensive line is probably what kept Rutgers from winning at least a share of the Big East

Since: Oct 26, 2011

Posted on: January 31, 2012 8:57 am

Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

The Commis's have already said that the Automatic's are going away.Its funny though,since 2000 The Big East has won more than everybody except The SEC.The Worest Conference is THE ATLANIC CHOKE CONFERENCE,OR BY THERE CODE NAME THE ACC.JOHN THE SWINE SWOFFORD STATRED ALL THIS BULL SHIT BACK IN 2005,SO ITS FITTING ITS BLOWING UP IN HIS FACE.HE WAS SO STUPID HE SAID THAT THE ACC WOULD GET 2 TEAMS IN THE BCS.WHAT A IDOT,BRILLIANT

Since: Jan 25, 2012

Posted on: January 31, 2012 7:23 am

Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

A few people have commented that Cristobal would be a bad hire or that he wasn't ready to "step up to the next level." I'm not an FIU fan or a Mario fan but the comments seemed odd and out of context with what I remember from living in the area for a few years.

Upon review it appears Cristobal has been the head coach since FIU joined Division 1 bowl series in 2006. They won 0 games the first season and 1 the next. i don't believe their on-campus stadium was finished until 2008. They have progressively fielded better teams until the last two years they have been bowl eligible and have went to 2 minor bowls. That appears to me steady improvement and a program going in the right direction.

And Rutgers is not that significant a step up in football (we're not talking about academics here) in real terms. The only advantage they have is that they reside in a conference which undeservedly has AQS in the BCS. In 2010, Rutgers defeated FIU 19-14 (a game I didn't see) and in 2011 FIU defeated Louisville 24-17; a Louisville team that eventually tied for the Big East title. I saw that game and on that night FIU was the better team, even in the trenches. FIU is located in Miami and they can recruit a lot of Florida talent passed over by the bigger boys.

The Automatic Qualifying Status of the Big East (and ACC perhaps) is under scrutiny and the AQS may completely go away by 2014 anyway.

Since: Nov 18, 2007

Posted on: January 31, 2012 7:15 am

Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

FIU slid a little in the 2nd half of the 2011 season, Cristobal has some work work to do.

Since: Jun 5, 2011

Posted on: January 31, 2012 4:02 am

Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

Mario Cristobal's insistance on staying at FIU shows that he is one of the rare few who realizes that money and fame aren't everything. Cristobal has it great in Miami; he is part of a small but very close-knit community that holds him in the highest of esteem. If Cristobal ever makes a move, it's going to be a few miles east to the U. Congratulations to Mario Cristobal for making a great decision.

As for Rutgers, it is better for recruiting that they promoted one of their current assistants. He might be able to salvage what would have been a joke of a recruiting class if they had brought in someone new at this point in the game. Rutgers will have plenty of time to start looking for a more permanent answer at head coach if the team falters under Flood.

For any Rutgers fans looking for someone to blame: how about your AD and president? The minute Schiano started talking to other teams a few years ago, they should have had a contingency plan in place. The all-too-obvious fact that they didn't is indicative of negligence and gross incompetence on part of the Rutgers administration.

Rutgers is about to become the Big East's favorite tomato can again.

Since: Jan 6, 2008

Posted on: January 30, 2012 11:47 pm

Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

Mario Cristobal's lack of willingness to move to a better job, no matter how many are offered to him, shows me that he knows he is not a good head coach and he knows he will get exposed at the next level. He'd rather stay in his own little comfort zone at FIU where expectations are as nonexistant as competition.

By the way, Rutgers made a terrible choice. From what it seems, this guy has absolutely no credentials to get a coaching job in Division I, much less a BCS job. If you really want to "save the recruiting class," bring in a head coach from outside with name recognition. Schiano worked so hard to make this program a winner, now it has faded back into mediocrity with one coaching promotion.

Since: Jun 10, 2011

Posted on: January 30, 2012 11:21 pm

Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

Humm "Just hired to keep the recruiting class together" ...Oh OK ... sure ... then he'll have to coach the team with these new recruits - and since the recruits are very impressive and Flood is definitely not stupid ...it is likely that he will just go and put together an impressive winning season with this team ... and then just because of those simple old recruiting skills that he seems to have & the team's strong performance, he will just go and bring in some more strong recruits and have an even better season ... and he will just keep doing this over and over until they go out and hire a big name coach ....

Since: Apr 23, 2010

Posted on: January 30, 2012 10:51 pm

Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

Living in Miami I think I can say this and be considered realiable - Rutgers, and any school who is rumored to be interested in hiring mario cristiobal who later finds out he isnt interested should feel happy and should throw a party that the guy doesnt want to coach your team because all he will do is ruin it... the guy is overrated, as is his team and the university he works for - the last two seasons for them have been a fluke , next season they will go back to their division 3/NAIA form and continue to be the laughing stock of college football and college football in the state of florida... be happy rutgers fans cherish the fact he rejected the offer - a program on the rise like yours, would go straight to the ground with this guy... he didnt build FIU, it was built for him, he just inherited a decent situation, tweaked one or two things and got lucky, nothing else.

Since: Oct 26, 2011

Posted on: January 30, 2012 10:43 pm

Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

Give Flood a Chance.Not to many people on the East Coach New who Dana was when WVU moved him up to the Head Coach either.But i do think this is more about the maybe out of Business Big East Football Conference.Rutgers is caught in No Mans land on this one.

Since: Oct 10, 2011

Posted on: January 30, 2012 10:23 pm

Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood accepts HC job

Clearly hired to keep this recruiting class, which is one of the best incoming ever intact.